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Detail Pages
The Globe, SE1
SE1
SE1 9AL
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 5 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Tris C left this review about The Globe
A fine history of pubbing has existed on this site, going back to the late 14th century when this was the site of Cobham’s Inn, later the Green Dragon, with this incarnation of the Globe arriving in 1872, built in the Gothic Revival style; the name of ‘Turpin’ can be seen above the entrance, publican here from around 1861: William Boxall Turpin. The Globe is also listed on CAMRA’s inventory of pubs which featured in Bridget Jones’s Diary.
This is a funny pub, because it doesn’t look like one from the street, meaning I missed it twice when doing the rounds here a couple of months back and despite being part of Borough Market, it isn’t under its roof. Unsurprisingly, nothing has changed since the previous review was submitted yesterday, other than the ale range, down from four to three. It has a curved front, with large arched windows. The floor is bare boarded and walls are black tongue and groove, along with a matching ceiling. The bar front is pale grey, attractive with scrolls and may be original, illuminated by large industrial sized metal shades, complementing an ugly tubular steel suspended gantry. Further lighting amounts to two large lantern sconces, then a few with fluted glass shades; on high there were overly bright spotlights. Furniture is fairly conventional, with a studded banquette, tatty and ripped in parts and normal tables and stools to the rear snug, upholstered with vinyl, the colour of rotting flesh, then to the front, tall tables with matching rotten flesh stools, with a circumferential drinking ledge and projecting wall tables to the front area. As mentioned, there’s a feature of sorts in the form of a dividing screen filled with unlabelled green wine bottles, which can also be found above the gantry and also framed by a window reveal. There’s little else in the way of décor aside from the aforementioned blue vase to the bar, which may be Chinese, of the Meiping Wanli Period; the pub’s soundtrack is provided by the rumble of overhead trains. Customers amounted to sweary blokes and young female members of the duffle coat and bobble hat brigade, moderate in number.
The beer front amounted to two unused pumps, one reversed (presumably the Whitstable Bay) then the predictable trio that constitutes just about all that’s available in London: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the Landlord still costing £5.05 and in drinkable though unexceptional condition, served by a monosyllabic barmaid who couldn’t take her eyes off her phone screen.
This pub is just about ok, certainly quieter than the Wheatsheaf over the road, but nowhere near as good as the Market Porter, with its superior ale range and ambience.
On 19th January 2022
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1985 recommendations about 1951 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Globe
Tucked away under the roof of Borough Market, this is an attractive Victorian-era gothic-style pub with an unusual curved facade. You enter into a bare boarded room with the servery in the middle of the back wall and some very limited high table and stool seating around the perimeter. Very large, high arched windows run around the curved front wall, allowing a fair bit of light in, despite the market roof, each with some nice dark wood tongue and groove panels in between them. The bar has quite an attractive wood panelled counter with a modern metal frame gantry above and a simple mirrored bar back. A huge ceramic vase stands at one end of the bar and one of the front windows was completely filled with shelves full of green bottles, which probably creates quite a nice visual effect if the sun can reach this window. Similarly, a partitioning wall to the rear left is actually a floor to ceiling glass cabinet, full of more green bottles. This is used to screen the small rear lounge area, which is also bare boarded but has comfy button backed banquettes down the left and rear walls, with a lot of low stools in support. More high windows and a large mirror on the end wall mean that there’s little available wall space so decor is pretty minimal and the lighting is quite muted, combining with the dark ceiling to make the pub surprisingly dark, but also a little cosy, especially in the little lounge. As with most central London pubs on a weekday, there were more punters outside, spilled out across the closed market’s concourse, although that didn’t mean it was quiet inside, with punters three deep at the bar throughout my stay.
There were four handpulls in operation on my midweek evening visit - Fullers London Pride, Sharps Doom Bar, Shepherd Neame Whitstable Bay and Taylors Landlord. Not the most inspiring range you’re going to find and the Landlord (£5.05) was past its best, to the point that I couldn’t face battling the crowds to get served again, so I headed off elsewhere despite having arranged to meet friends here.
I’ve been past this pub countless times, but this was the first time I’d actually set foot inside and I have to say I was a little disappointed. The interior is certainly worth a look and the small lounge provides some comfy, if extremely limited, seating options, but the slow service and poorly kept ale are big negatives and I would struggle to justify a return here with several superior pubs a short distance from here.
On 18th January 2022
- rating: 5
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Ian Mapp left this review about The Globe
Last went over 20 years ago. Much improved - it used to be quite shabby, as I remember it.
No a smart interior, with lots of empty green bottles as decoration. Above the bar. On window sills.
Central hoseshoe bar.
TT Landlord on. In good condition. GBG 2021 entry.
On 8th November 2021
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1338 recommendations about 1324 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Rex Rattus left this review about The Globe
This is a pub that I've walked past many times, and at last summoned up the enthusiasm to go in. I haven't been missing much. It was pretty gloomy in there, but that's not their fault as it's got a pretty dire location right under the railway bridge. It's a circular pub at one end of Borough Market. Bare-boarded inside with tall stools at ledges by the winsows, and a handful of normal tables/benches/small round stools in an area to the left separated from the main bar area by a large case containing bottles.
The pair of real ales on were Truman's Swift and Sharp's Atlantic - both £4 a pint, which to be fair isn't bad for the area. Plastic "glasses" are available if you want to take your drink outside into the market. The only food I saw was bar snacks such as nuts, etc. This is a fairly unremarkable pub, but my Swift was in good shape. Certainly not worth going out of your way to visit, but it's a useful watering hole for anyone visiting Borough Market.
On 2nd June 2018
- rating: 5
[User has posted 2606 recommendations about 2520 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Globe
Interesting building on the edge of Borough Market, with traditional furniture and a number of decorative features of interest within its unusual curved frontage. The interior has been given a major refurbishment since I last called in a couple of years ago, and is now much more appealing. The place is better staffed too, and the number of handpumps has increased to five. On this visit, I found Truman's Swift, Southwark Top Drop Pale Ale (£4.60), Big Smoke Electric Eye Pale Ale and two from Portobello - Home Turf Pale and Stiff Lip. Rating increased.
On 11th March 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Moby Duck left this review about The Globe
Now a lot smarter than before as mentioned below, a brightly lit L shaped bar that seemed almost more wine-bar than pub to me, echoed by an extensive wine list starting at £19.60 a bottle. The lone barman didn't seem to be overly rushing himself to serve waiting customers, indeed one group of four gave up and left, when he got to me I had a choice of four from five handpumps, Pride, ELB Foundation Bitter, One Mile End Hospital Porter and Moncada Notting Hill Pale which I had a half of and was privileged to pay £2.20, for a 3.2% beer,added to that it was quite hazy though tasted ok. Although I cant knock the beer selection here I didn't really take to the place and will likely bypass it next time I'm around Borough Market.
On 20th February 2016
- rating: 5
[User has posted 1872 recommendations about 1845 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Globe
Had a major upgrade to this building.The outside stonework has had a clean and the pub looks very good.Interior smart modern,black painted walls. Lots of high stools and tables.Four cask beers on inc Gypsy hill-dissident and my Hackney -Kentucky common was good.
On 16th January 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blackthorn _ left this review about The Globe
A popular pub in the heart of Borough market, it is (slightly) famous for having Bridget Jones’s flat above it and I believe a Greek restaurant and a newsagent featured in the film were also located across the street although that all looks to have been redeveloped now.
It’s a single room pub with a curved outside wall which makes for a slightly unusual shape. It’s fairly basic inside with a slightly rough and ready feel and traditional décor with a wood strip floor, dark green paint on the ceiling and a mixture of dark green and maroon elsewhere whilst the painted wallpaper has that curious nicotine colour that you get in many old pubs. Some wood partitioning with frosted windows around the curved wall of the pub created separate areas for sitting, or more likely standing as there was only a limited number of chairs available. Large arched windows overlooked the market and some of these were etched with the pub’s name. The bar counter was ornate woodwork and there were a number of globe’s dotted around and a short history of the pub, although little else of any note.
Beer choice was somewhat pedestrian with just Golden XPA, Doom Bar and London Pride being available which is a bit of a contrast to many of the other real ale meccas nearby. The solitary cider was Strongbow, unfortunately. A good choice of music was being played, although it was perhaps just a tad too loud for easy conversation.
On 1st December 2014
- rating: 6
[User has posted 1948 recommendations about 1861 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Philip Carter left this review about The Globe
If accepted, I've uploaded some photos of the view from the windows of the new railway viaduct. Lovely views, not!!
On 14th January 2011
- rating: 5
[User has posted 757 recommendations about 720 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Roger Button left this review about The Globe
The potential for this place is enormous. The building dates from 1872 and has a wonderfully basic and dingy interior of the kind that would actually be enhanced by clouds of cigarette smoke. There are several nice touches worth noting; the ornate trimmings of the bar, patterned windows, even the narrow doorway that is always a squeeze to get through. The walls contain many nostalgic adverts and the beams and high shelves are loaded with artifacts and antiques. There are just a few tables with most of the drinking here of a vertical nature at various ledges around the pub. There is a dart board at one end and a series of screened off areas down one side but again just stools at a ledge. The music can be very loud and was probably a constant annoyance for Bridget Jones whose flat was situated above the pub in the movies.
The Globe's big problem is that it appears to make no effort to compete with its neigbours although, to be fair, it is up against some very strong competition. Selling 3 standard ales (Adnams, Bombardier and Youngs) isn't going to make me pop in before a session at the Market Porter or the Wheatsheaf. The beer quality is, at best drinkable but generally very poor. Prices are OK, Bombardier was £3 on my visit this week which is less than a lot of pubs around here but with poor quality and choice, is it really good value? I have tried hard to like this place but unless it makes more of an effort it is hard to find a reason to return.
On 23rd October 2009
- rating: 4
[User has posted 1239 recommendations about 1233 pubs]